Black Hole
by delectat
Summary: 'I need you to go to it and destroy it, little brother. Save our world.' NaruSasuNaru. AU, sci-fi, dark, violence, char. death, cannibalism. Mostly Sasuke!centric.
1. part 1

Disclaimer: _Fan fiction_.

Warnings: Rated M for the mild smut and language.

A/N: Second fic, yay! Golly, I am sincerely grateful for the reviews for my previous fic. Honestly, I wasn't expecting as much. This is a futuristic fic and is also AU. This is going to be a two part fic. I think.

Summary: '_I need you to go to it and destroy it, little brother. Save our world._' NaruSasuNaru. AU. Sci-fi. Mostly Sasuke!centric.

Reviews or any type of feedback, whether it is good or bad, is seriously appreciated.

black hole

by: celestine!

part_1

The sky is a wonderful shade of iridescent violet. It is nearly night and the sun is dying and bleeding over the cusp of the surrounding wood. The moon shows her scarred face and steadily brightens as the sky darkens. There are no sounds other than a slight rustling. A wooden picnic table squats on a slight hill; a near empty trashcan is overturned and rocking back and forth on its heavier metal base. A rumpled up newspaper drifts by. There are two boys on the table. They both are dressed casually. His dark hair drifts around his face, once in a while settling before a slight gust moves it again. His eyes are closed. The other's hair is nearly white, with a darker blond streaking through it. His blue eyes are open and they track the newspaper's progress as it rides the small wind currents.

Naruto jumps off the table and chases after the newspaper. After a few missed lunges he catches it and then goes over to the trashcan. He rights it back up and shoves the newspaper inside it. Wiping his hands off on his faded jeans he sits back onto the bench, right below Sasuke. Naruto smiles up at him and pulls at his hand.

Sasuke is feeling indulgent. He lets Naruto grab him. Suddenly a siren screams through the silence. Immediately Sasuke snaps to attention and gives Naruto a brief kiss on his wrist. He gets off the table and sprints away toward a nearby portal. Naruto says nothing but brings his hand up near his chest; he clenches it and then releases a small white flower that was meant for Sasuke, completely crushed.

/ break /

A shimmer shakes the air before Sasuke materializes in a portal. A secretary ushers him into the main double doors, _The Commander is waiting for you in his office_, she tells him.

Sasuke walks in and salutes the Commander.

His office is grand and plush. His desk is made out of real oak wood, not the recycled plastic that nearly everything is made out of now. The desk is immaculately organized and polished so well it shows a near perfect reflection of the golden chandelier above Sasuke's head. There is a large bay window directly behind the Commander, showing just how high up in the air they are. The walls are white and the carpet is a rich red color. The walls are adorned with prestigious awards and credentials accumulated throughout the life of the great Commander. His chair is made out of leather and embellished with weathered metal studs. There are no other chairs in the room, forcing Sasuke to stand awkwardly in the middle of the office.

The Commander doesn't acknowledge him at first, but keeps working on the hover-screen to the right of him. Directly below the screen is a picture frame depicting a family picture, in which a little Sasuke is scowling at the camera. Sasuke glares at this photo. After what the Commander deems enough time, he looks up to Sasuke and motions him to come closer. Sasuke knows not to speak but grits his teeth. He hates reporting to Itachi. Itachi looks at him and tells him in his customary detached voice that a previously undiscovered black hole was nearing their home galaxy. Sasuke's back stiffens. He knows what's coming.

_I need you to go to it and destroy it, little brother. Save our world._

Sasuke says nothing and gives Itachi the smallest of nods. He bows down respectfully, promptly turns away, and exits the room. Sasuke steps into the same portal and puts in the coordinates for a portal nearby his house.

/ break /

Sasuke comes back to their house. He unlocks the door by swiping his hand on the scanner screen. The machine beeps and let him inside.

Their house is very much like their neighbor's house: a white, square block of smart plastic with a front entrance as well as a back entrance. There are exactly two windows per side of the house and a small concrete back yard. The inside was also white. The wall, floors, and ceilings were made out of the same material. Each house had one kitchen, one living room, one dining room and one bathroom per bedroom; if your house had two bedrooms then you'd have two bathrooms. The general design was very compact and ideal for the upper crust of the working class of the City. The Council of Design had deemed this type of layout to be sublime and so made a decree that nearly every house in the city had to look like this. The exception was whether the owners were particularly wealthy, or whether they lived in the Ghettos.

Sasuke steps in and disposes of his coat on the rack near the front door. He is quiet, for it is late. He goes to the small kitchen and gets a glass of water. He swallows the water and then disposes of the cup in the recycler. He goes into the bathroom and washes his face. He undresses and steps into the shower.

Naruto knew better than to wait for Sasuke to return home, so he went about his daily routine like normal. He is reading, a small hover light lit up the book and moved the light across the page according to Naruto's eye movements; so when Naruto hears Sasuke enter the room, freshly cleaned and still somewhat wet, the light shines on Sasuke's face and momentarily blinds him. After a bit Sasuke's pupils contract and he looks at Naruto. He laughs and turns off the little light. The room is cast into brief darkness until the smart-light recognizes that there's still a body not in the bed and turns on.

Sasuke sighs and goes over to sit on the other side of their bed. He rests his elbows on his knees and cradles his head in his hands. Naruto automatically gets up and kneels in front of him.

_What's wrong?_

_Another mission, _Sasuke replies.

_Poor kitten, _Naruto sighs, using his endearment towards Sasuke. He grabs his hands and then touches his face lightly. Sasuke's eyes are closed.

_Fucking Itachi, he knows that I am not supposed to be working now. He damn well knows that I am taking a paid vacation._

Naruto doesn't understand, _Then don't do it; if this is your vacation, he has no right!_

_I— he'll report my unwillingness to Father; I don't want to disappoint Father. And besides, this is a very important mission._

Naruto hums, comprehending. Naruto knows that he can't do anything to erase these worries, but he also knows that he can distract Sasuke momentarily. So he kisses him.

At first Sasuke doesn't respond, so it's only a soft press of lips, rather than an actual kiss. Naruto's eyebrows furrow and he threads his fingers into Sasuke's inky hair, pulling Sasuke's head back and exposing his neck. Sasuke groans and half-heartedly tries to disengage from Naruto. Naruto merely follows Sasuke's retreat into the middle of their bed.

The smart-light turns off as the floor sensors detect that there's no-one on the floor.

Sasuke sighs and decides to just give up and let go. He pulls Naruto back up and really kisses him this time. Naruto's eyes flicker closed and allows himself to be flipped, so now he's beneath Sasuke. Sasuke pulls Naruto's shirt up and trails kisses up and down his abdomen. Naruto hums and clutches the pillows near his head. Sasuke's licks a particularly sensitive part of him and he arches up, moaning loudly. After more kisses and bites, Naruto tires of playing the passive role and flips them again. He kisses Sasuke strongly and grinds down against him. Sasuke gasps and grabs Naruto's ass, forcing him to rock harder against him. Naruto uses one elbow as support and snakes the other hand down to their groins. Somehow along the way, their clothes seemed to have disappeared. Neither of them dwell on this and Naruto just goes ahead with what he planned to do. He grabs both their arousals in one fist and pumps them, alternating between a slow rhythmic pump, and a fast, erratic jerk.

More kisses are shared before the grinding and thrusting and touching becomes too much. Sasuke comes first with a quiet gasp and Naruto follows, feeling his and Sasuke's cum dripping down his hand.

Naruto's arm falters and he falls on Sasuke. Sasuke grunts softly and pets Naruto's hair. Naruto smiles, kisses Sasuke on his chest near where his heart lies, and then falls into a deep sleep. Sasuke almost can't sleep. He is still far too angry with his brother's command to fall into slumber.

After a while of thinking, he realizes he really can't do anything about it. He knows that if he _does _back down, both Itachi and his father will be disappointed. He can't bear to let Itachi down, much less his father.

/ break /

Sasuke opens awakens and opens his eyes. The curtains are drawn but in their translucency he can still see the dawning sun.

/ break /

_T-minus five seconds to launch…four…three…two…one…zero._

/ break /

Naruto is a wreck. He doesn't know what to do by himself when Sasuke's gone. But since Sasuke is gone often, he knows to call Sakura. She always knows what to do.

A few seconds after his call, Sakura arrives in a flurry of layers of thermal fabrics in flashy colors.

Naruto and Sakura have known each other since they were toddlers. Their families lived right next to each other, and throughout their school years they had somehow ended up in the same classes, every year without fail. So between sleepovers and late-night cram sessions, they had become best friends.

Sakura places her coat on the hook and looks around the small house for Naruto. She finds him in the living room on a couch, sitting with his legs drawn up and encircled by his arms, resting his head on his knees.

_Oh, Naruto,_ she coos.

_Sakura, I'm afraid. I don't think he'll come back.. I have this horrible feeling, here, _he uncurls and grabs Sakura's hand, leading her hand until it touches a place between his ribs, _here. He didn't tell me when the mission was, or what the mission was about in the first place. He _always_ tells me. Always._

Sakura doesn't know what to say, so she simply embraces him and he starts to cry, softly.

After a while, something _bing_s in the kitchen. Naruto takes Sakura's arms off him and he gets up. With the back of his hand, he wipes off his tears. Sakura follows, making sure that Naruto is in the right mind for cooking, they enter the kitchen and she stands next to Naruto.

Naruto turns the stove off and removes the lid from the boiling water, making the water stop bubbling immediately. He unwraps some dried pasta meal portions and stirs them in. After some minutes the noodles soften and he adds a seasoning powder. He throws some vegetables in and stirs the pot absentmindedly with a wooden spoon. His hand falls from the spoon and touches the side of the pot. His facial expression doesn't change as searing pain scorches his hand, he only acknowledges the pain with a small exhale and then a gasp. Sakura gasps and yanks Naruto away from the stove.

_What the hell are you doing?_ She shrieks.

Naruto calmly looks down at his hand. A blister already ballooned up on one finger.

Sakura lets out an exasperated snarl and walks to the back of the kitchen, towards the First Aid kid.

All houses, upon decreed from the Council of General Safety must have a form of First Aid kit.

She grabs the section for minor burns and turns it on and a little automaton skitters out and jumps from Sakura to Naruto's hand. It produces a cooling paste and smears it on Naruto's burn, then with skillful mechanical fingers it wraps a strip of gauze around his hand. The little robot deems the job done and returns to Sakura's hands. She sighs and packs the kit back into the wall.

Naruto doesn't say anything. He opens up a cabinet and takes out two bowls. He pours some of the noodles into both bowls and covers the pot. Then he grabs some utensils and motions Sakura to eat with him.

She growls again, but follows, sitting across from him on his tiny dining table.

They eat in silence.

After a while it begins to get dark and Sakura knows it's time for her to return to her own life, she can no longer help Naruto for now.

He shows her to his front door and watches from the doorway as she made her way down to one of the portals that were at the end of each walkway from each house in the street. He waved and then she was gone.

/ break /

A spaceship hovers near the mouth of a black hole.

Sasuke grits his teeth, the spacesuit had indeed improved from the primitive models that humans had to use when they first discovered how to space travel, but not to the point of it being very articulate.

The material was sleeker, more silver and reflective than the staple white, but still thick to protect the human body from implosion. There were less apparatuses on this suit, only the bare minimum was used: a respirator pack, a back-up respirator, radio, and an emergency distress signaler. Though the spacesuit that he had to use for this specific mission was different, more modified. It even came with its own gun, mostly used to blow minor fragments of meteors out of the way while he was working outside of the spaceship. Though sometimes it was used to chase curious space creatures that were drawn to the foreign spaceship from the glittering darkness that was their habitat. Such creatures weren't usually dangerous, but it paid to be wary of them.

Another member of his assigned group is with him, his name is Hyuuga. His eyes have been surgically altered to be able to see the different gasses and liquids that might leak from a breached spaceship.

He motions Sasuke over to a spot on the hull of the ship. There's a small rupture there, possibly caused by the debris that is constantly pulled into their target black hole.

He pulls himself over and takes out a special tube. It's half-filled with a clear gel that hardens and assumes the color and texture of whatever inorganic surface it's placed onto. It's a brief, make-shift fix to any frissure.

Sasuke squirts some of the gel and smears it on and around the area of the rupture. After a couple of seconds it seems to shimmer and it takes on the silvery, cold surface of the spaceship. Sasuke turns to Neji, _Are there any more breaks?_ Neji shakes his head and starts to head back to the entrance of the ship.

Sasuke follows him through the entrance, closing the door as soon as he enters and locking it in place.

The inside of the spaceship is a mixture of smooth white and silver panels that make a patchwork pattern across most of the walls and tunnels of the corridors. The only place that is not like that is the bridge, where any available space is overrun with buttons and switches, dials, wires, and other such things that are necessary for any vessel of this size to be controlled with. Sasuke enters the bridge and sits down wearily on his chair, he hated going out into space with nothing but another person to anchor him down. He takes off his helmet and shakes his head, unsettling his hair until it stopped being plastered on his head. He slumps down and watches the displayed information on the various little screens that littered his station detachedly, thinking of how much he'd rather be on Earth, curled up and relaxing with a certain person.

Suddenly an alarms blares out from the many speakers that are positioned in various places inside the ship: there is some thing wrong.

The gravity within the ship fluctuates between zero-G and just a bit more than it's on the surface of Earth, causing the crew members to be slammed sporadically to the floor. Sasuke gasps in pain and flings out a hand, snagging on to a wire from the ceiling, allowing him to be suspended from there every time the faux-gravity pulls him down. He begins to make his way to the nearest emergency back-up control, hanging on to strong-looking wires. He opens the glass container and slams his fist on the large red button. Immediately the gravity stabilizes and the sound of bodies hitting the floor stops, but not the alarm, which still screeched, seemingly without end.

_What the fuck's going on?_ Sasuke yells at a nearby pilot who is already looking at the little displays that were scattered over the panels of the bridge. They were all flashing red.

_Jesus! I… I think we're getting pulled in!_

_What?_ Sasuke snaps sharply, _that's not possible, this ship was specifically designed to prevent this!_

_Fuck! The ship won't recognize any commands! _The hysterical astronaut begins to pound on the controls, hoping that somehow the ship would stop.

_Shit,_ Sasuke mutters and stumbles out of the bridge and into the hall. He looks down and sees another astronaut: the crew's medic, Karin, passed out form hitting her head, a small pool of blood dripping out of a gash on her forehead.

_Karin?_ He asks and then nudges her shoulder in an attempt to rouse her. Her eyes flutter and she groans.

_Sas-?_ She groans again, _Sasuke, what happened?_ She looks dazed and brings up a hand to her face, smearing the blood. She stares at the had, her eyes aren't focused.

_We lost control of the ship and we're getting sucked into the black hole, _he told her,_ Karin, I'm sorry but you need to move now, here, let me help you._ He grabs her by the hand and hauls her up. She shakes her head, splattering Sasuke with blood. They make their way slowly to the small escape ships. Three of the five have already been deployed. Sasuke sees another colleague getting into one and follows him.

Sasuke nods to him and helps Karin strap in.

The main ship shudders again and Sasuke hears a loud crack.

_What was that? _The other spaceman yells.

Sasuke doesn't answer, but looks out of their only tiny window and blanches. The black hole is looking bigger and bigger by the second. It is massive. It is absolute darkness in it's middle, the outside is ringed with a red and orange fringe. Sasuke sees small debris getting sucked into it's middle and sinking into the blackness within it.

_Shit, shit!_ He gasps and kicks the main panel to start the escape pod. The engine gives a quiet thrum and slowly backs away from the main ship. Sasuke motions for the other crew member to man the pod. Sasuke turns to Karin but she has lost too much blood and has passed out. He scowls but does nothing.

The other pulls the manual controls closer to him and tries to maneuver the ship away from the black hole, but the black hole's vacuum is too strong and slowly begins to pull the small ship into it.

_Sasuke! It's not working!_

_Put it into overdrive! _Sasuke orders.

The small ship suddenly jerks and begins to pull away from the black hole's suction. The ship moves in a slow, but steady pace. When it finally reaches the last vestiges of the black hole's reach, the ship's overdrive function is finally up one hundred percent. It kicks one last time and it speeds away from the black hole. Sasuke lets out a small cheer and quickly reaches over for the coordinate controls. He taps on the screen and puts in the coordinates for the nearest space station.

.

part_1/end.


	2. part 2

Disclaimer: Fan_ fiction_.

Warnings: Rated M for the graphic violence and cannibalism.

A/N: Though the reader won't know, this chapter took me forever to write. I think I posted the first part about a year ago, and I've been writing this chapter for about six months. The dates won't add up, since I deleted the first version of part one and reposted an edited version. Also, I kind of only wrote this part when I needed to vent. It also kind got away from what I thought it was going to be like, but I rather like it.

Warning: All but described cannibalism.

Summary: '_I need you to go to it and destroy it, little brother. Save our world._' NaruSasuNaru. AU, sci-fi, dark, violence, char. death, cannibalism. Mostly Sasuke!centric.

Reviews or any type of feedback, whether it is good or bad, is seriously appreciated.

Additional note: Please do read the end note at the bottom.

black hole

by: celestine!

part_2.

It has been three years since Naruto first heard that horrible broadcast. _A spaceship sent to a faraway galaxy, sent to destroy the biggest black hole ever observed in the history of modern science, a horrible turn of events sent the ship into the black hole, rather than to a vital weak point that's just outside of its dangerous maw_. Naruto had been entertaining Sakura then, it was been a year since Sasuke had gone and he had adapted, inviting Sakura to his home regularly and sharing good times with her and their other friends. He just happened to turn on the telly at that horrible moment when the news had just reached the head of the Media of the New World and had been immediately broadcasted. _However a ray of hope had shone through those difficult times: Earth was not to be destroyed by the massive black hole; the ship, Valiant, had entered the black hole and somehow detonated from within the black hole with enough force to actually obliterate it_. The whole world had rejoiced. Except for Naruto.

Naruto has long since stopped looking at the screen of the telly, he has stopped listening to the radio, stopped being in his own home, and he has stopped hoping. He now goes to a club to try to forget.

The club is silent, it only thrums and the walls seem to pulsate with the muted music. It's perfect for Naruto, who now only desires this loud sort of silence. It is an underground club, mostly unkown. Not even Sakura knows of it, so he goes by himself. There is the usual crowd hanging in the silver corners, the flickering pixel-textured bodies, the cyborgs, and the occasional furry. They pay him no mind, as he makes his way to an empty chair in lounge area of the club. He never talks to anyone, only enjoys the feel of the thrumming silence go through his body. Technically this sort of club is illegal; the Council of General Safety says that such quiet but powerful vibrations slowly unhinge the mind. But whenever one is forced to shut down, another opens and its clientele always seem to know just where the next one is going to be.

Naruto does not believe that he is slowly going crazy, so he continues to go to the club.

/ _break_ /

Sasuke stares out the single window the escape pod has.

He sees the glorious infinity that is the universe. He watches how a sun slowly dies and collapses into itself, becoming a white dwarf and drawing in several of the much smaller stars around it. He watches how a misty nebula twists and bends around and into the current of the sun's pull, its beautiful colors shifting and mingling.

He does not remember how many days, weeks, months, or even years he has been in the tiny pod. But he does remember how Itachi forced him into this mission, goading him with his father's disappointment. Sasuke doesn't give a fuck about his father's disappointment anymore. He just wants to return to Earth.

Karin speaks, _we're almost out of food and water_.

Sasuke flinches at the thought of how little they have left but says nothing. His voice has been unused for a long time now and he doesn't feel like using it now.

Their other crew-mate died a couple of galaxies ago; apparently he had punctured a lung with a broken rib during the fluxing of the gravity in their previous spaceship. Karin, the ship's medic had been out for a while, the loss of blood too great, and had woken up shortly after his death. She had been greeted with a stoic Sasuke pushing the body out into the jettison bay of the pod. They had both watched ¾ with mild horror ¾ how as soon as his oxygen-rich body exited the ship it exploded. Almost immediately the scavenging creatures of space ventured out from places unknown and began to fight over the floating viscera and other parts of the human body that make it function.

_Sasuke? What shall we do?_ She asks him, unsure of what to do. She doesn't know whether he's mourning the loss of their crew mate, or is merely ignoring her. She hesitatingly touches his shoulder, _Sasuke?_

He slaps her hand away, he doesn't need her. Or maybe I do, he thinks, maybe, maybe I need her flesh, maybe I need to eviscerate her, the ship has various food storage compartments, save bits and pieces for later ingestion, consumption, absorption. No, not absorption. For absorption, only Naruto, only him shall I absorb into me. Sasuke lets out a hiss, he had forced himself not to think about him, but damn Karin, _damn her, she's the one that made me think of him_, he unintentionally speaks out loud.

_What? Sasuke? _She starts when his hand reaches up and seizes around her pretty little neck. He presses slowly. She gasps hoarsely; he is squeezing her trachea mercilessly. Her hunger-weakened hands claw at his own, leaving faint little welts on his arms and wrists. He squeezed harder, her eyes bulge out, impossibly wide and grotesque, and he can already see the little veins that run around the surface of her eye, frantically trying to pump blood, making her eyes bloodshot. With an annoyed _tsk_ he grabs her hands with his other and holds them away from her.

Her hands scratch frantically at his own, small spheres of blood trailing after the wake of her nails. He doesn't even notice, too intent on severing her life. She gasps, eyes rolling back into her skull, her brain going into panic mode and sending messages to her limbs to move, kick, punch, claw, anything to keep her alive.

With one final effort, she struggles, gasps and rattles out, _Sasuke…_

The sound of his name makes him stop completely, but not let her go. He loosens his hands, noticing faintly that they hurt from being in a claw-like pose for too long.

She is mostly unconscious now, Sasuke's hands on her throat being the only support. He lets her go. She falls to the floor with a muffled sound, her medic uniform cushioning her slightly.

He drops to his knees to look at her, slightly horrified at himself for thinking about turning to cannibalism to sate his hunger and despair. He doesn't do much for a while, just watches her chest rise up and down fast as if she was hyperventilating, and then ebb into a smooth up and down.

Disgusted with himself, he gets up and goes to the only other room in the pod. He presses the button on the wall and a panel slides out smoothly to close and divide the two rooms. He stares at the reflection in the mirror, eyes rimmed with dark circles, hair disheveled; a crazed quality makes him tremble slightly. He craves to splash his face with refreshing water, but as they are nearing the point where water will no longer be available, the stops himself.

He hasn't thought about him in a while, not sure just how long exactly.

_Sasuke?_ Karin knocks on the metallic panel. Damn her, damn her for ruining his thoughts, he comes to a very final resolution: Kill Karin and devour her. He's not too sure whether he has the right tools for following through with such a difficult endeavor, but he can at least kill her and jettison her out; he is sure no one will question him when he arrives all alone and half crazed. She knocks again, then again and after several long minutes, she seems to give up and the knocking ceases.

He knows he is not sane at the moment, but he hopes that once he returns, and sees Naruto, all will be right in the world again. In fact, he knows all will be right; the thought of him is what keeps him living after all.

/ break /

Naruto doesn't know what to do with himself, he has already spent some time with Sakura this morning, already went for the club in the afternoon, and now, nearing midnight, he doesn't know what to do; he hasn't slept in the past couple of days, he also hasn't fed in the past day or so. But his body does not seem to suffer for it. It has not collapsed nor begged for sustenance yet.

His phone _pinged._

He hurries over to it, and looks at the screen.

Itachi.

The one who started this mess in the first place. Naruto doesn't pick up and hits ignore instead. He doesn't feel vitriol towards him yet; Sasuke still has the chance of coming back.

/ break /

Karin is collapsed on one of the circle-seats in the main room of the pod, finger shaped bruises encircle her neck in a charming fashion, almost like a necklace, or more appropriately, a choker. Sasuke almost smiles at the thought.

He nears her, plasma gun in hand, in case things get difficult, though he wants to take his time. He wants to punish her for making him suffer and also punish her for having too easy a way out.

She feels his presence and starts, a fearful look in her eyes. _Sasuke? Are you feeling well, do you need medical assistance? _She recognizes that something's changed, shifted; that she's no longer safe.

She tries to seem useful to him, she senses that she's about to expire. In the end it's all futile.

He grabs her suddenly, his fingers fitting perfectly into those bruises and squeezing hard, he felt her throat collapse within his grasp. She lets out a strangled moan, out her nose a small trickle of blood wets her upper lip, slowly making its way down the contours of her mouth and down her chin and over his hand. Her nails dig into his flesh and pierce it, goring her fingers and her nails, in their frantic actions, actually scrape against the bones of the back of his hand.

He snarls and with his other hand grabs the back of her neck to free his wounded hand, with that hand he grabs onto the front of her neck and with great force, his fingers rip into her throat. He closes them, feeling the soft wetness of her trachea get demolished by his hand, her neck bones scrape against his hand. He was surprised how easy it was to just break through.

Her eyes are wide and tear-filled with agony, pupils dilated to the extreme as her now useless adrenaline rushed in; her sclera filled with red, her eyes tried to see, but with the loss of oxygen, her vision is now blurred to the point of blindness.

Her leg kicks out wildly and somehow lands a blow to his groin. He gasps and his hand rips out, taking most of her through out of her. His knees join together and he feels the pain go into his stomach, making him dizzy and nauseous.

She falls, hands going to her throat and pressing deep, trying to stop her bleeding, but it's an obvious failure the wound is too deep to stop by simply applying pressure.

He looks at her for a while, faintly moved by the fact that he's actually killed someone. She convulses on the floor, not accepting that she's dying and fighting to keep living.

With her throat spayed out so nicely, Sasuke couldn't help but smile. Her eyes are blank and staring, fixed at something on the ceiling, Sasuke looks up, wondering if there's something there. But there isn't.

He gets down on his knees and rips a hole in the middle of her tunic, where it's covering her stomach. Her belly is smooth and soft looking. He strokes it lightly, and then with his nails gouges it; meeting considerable resistance before it gives way and he has a handful of guts. So warm, they're so warm that steam emits out, smelling richly of copper and something else that Sasuke cannot identify; something sweeter than he would have thought belonged in there.

He begins by shoving his arm in and up as deep as it would go, his skin scraping against moist bone and rupturing her stomach and lungs. His hand finally makes its way into something small and wet, somewhat hard, too.

Her heart.

He encloses it with his fist and squeezes, pulling his arm out, heart still in hand. With a sick squelch his hand frees itself from her stomach, heart in hand.

He brings her heart tentatively to his lips.

/ break /

A loud beeping awakes Sasuke; he opens his eyes with a start and leans over the metal seat, hand at his stomach and begins to retch. He ate too much uncooked meat and blood and viscera.

His eyes groggily search out the origin of the intrusive beeping. Then they widen, alert and excited. Out the tiny window he sees a green and blue sphere accompanied by a far smaller white one.

He looks at the obscenely open body on the floor, stomach ripped apart and organs gone, it now being almost completely empty save for the ribs that poke out. He looks back at Earth; he briefly calculates the distance and just how long it'll take him to finally return home.

He almost sighs in relief when he realizes that he has enough time to jettison the body and get rid of the awful evidence.

In motion, he thinks about all the things that he loves about Earth. First and foremost is Naruto. Then, oddly enough, is the sunshine that filters down from the atmosphere to warm his skin. Then it's freshly picket tomatoes. And lastly, Naruto. It's all Naruto. Sasuke is infinitely happy that he finally gets to see him, after so many years.

He gathers all the remaining waste: her entrails, part of her stomach, and her two lungs, and shoves them into the waste bay. He watches as the very few space creatures that live this close to Earth venture out feed. He knows that this close to mankind, meaning mankind's weapons, not many of them linger here. Only the masochists remain.

/ break /

Naruto looks up briefly and then does a double take.

He'd seen a falling star. He couldn't help but hoe that it was Sasuke's ship, homeward bound.

/ break /

Sasuke's ship rattled, it shook violently, the Earth's atmosphere being almost too much for the tiny pod to handle.

He quickly runs to the nearest seat and straps himself in; he might not survive the impact otherwise.

He briefly wonders which continent he'll land in. The he realizes it doesn't matter, there're countless portals in every nation, and as soon as he lands he'll be safely transported home.

He pod's mechanisms begin to creak as he enters the forceful pull of gravity; they begin to beep slowly, monitoring his descent to _terra firma_.

He looks out the tiny window. He could see the faint yellowish outline of Africa.

He'd been to Africa once before.

A bird smacks against the window, snapping him from his thoughts.

He pulls one of the controlling panels closer to him, seeing how close he was to land caused his heart to beat faster; he is almost home.

He switches on the manual control and begins to pilot the pod, banking left to avoiding a flock of birds.

The pod rattles harder, its loose instruments making clattering sounds, but Sasuke tunes them all out, his only focus is now landing. Nothing will distract him now, not the things he's seen in this mission, or the things he has done.

He's only a mile away now; he imagines he can almost taste the salty air from the coast.

With one hand he reaches for the crash-land jacket; he growls, he has to unman the controls in order to yank it on. The pod gives a violent lurch, for two seconds going into freefall. Sasuke's hands settle into the controls once again and the cabin falls again into its usual controlled rattling.

Quarter of a mile left.

He scans the area and selects the best place to land. He's at the very north of Morocco. There's a lonely strip of shore near and he angles the pod to land there.

He begins to get giddy with excitement.

/ break /

Naruto hears a frantic knocking on his front door.

He sighs; he doesn't have time for Sakura's constant pestering. He's told her several times that he doesn't want her lectures about which clubs may or may not be healthy for the state of his mind.

_Sakura, I fucking told you stay off my— _He's about to say something nasty, something horrible to drive her away completely, but stops.

Sasuke, a little breathless, but it's Sasuke! His Sasuke, he's back!

They both stare at each other, neither quite believing what they are seeing.

_Sas— Sasuke!_ Naruto exclaims, reaching out to touch Sasuke, to verify his existence.

Sasuke wastes no words and hauls Naruto to him, arms wrapping around his waist. Naruto's arms go around Sasuke's neck.

They kiss.

/ break /

.epilogue.

_We, the Council of Media of the New World, are terribly grieved to inform you that the crew aboard _the Valiant_ has perished. The families of our fallen heroes have our deepest condolences—_

Naruto stares at the screen dully. He refuses to believe. So he switches the channel.

_Amidst the wreckage we found one body, dental records verify that the body belongs to Sasuke Uchiha—_

Naruto's mouth parts slightly and a hopeless gasp drips out.

part_2/end.

End notes:

I considered ending it at 'They kiss.'.

But I so fell in love with the original idea. However if the reader wishes it had ended there, then that's fine. Ignore the epilogue. Think of it as an alternative ending.

Thank you for reading.

Please do review; I'd like to know what you've though of my little story.


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